by C Song

Created on: July 12, 2009

Located on South Market Street, across from the Plaze da Cesar Chavez Park, the San Jose Art Museum is a largely undiscovered gem which has been dedicated to fostering the awareness, appreciation and understanding of art since its founding in 1969. It seeks to ensure access to the fine arts to everyone in the Silicon Valley, evidenced by its quality exhibits and low admission fees of $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors. As a testament to the caliber of its collections, the museum is also accredited by the American Association of Museums, the only one in the city, and one of just 750 countrywide.

The San Jose Museum of Art has a permanent collection of over 1,400 twentieth and twenty-first century artworks from paintings, prints, and photography to sculpture, installation, and new media. Standouts include Dale Chihuly's spectacular, candy-colored blown glass pieces; the shimmering glass forms in a riot of reds, oranges, and blues, are ethereally beautiful. The new media pieces, products of our age of technology, feel at home in San Jose, heart of Silicon Valley. These pieces utilize materials like aluminum, miscellaneous electronic parts, and glass to create wholly modern and thought provoking art works. Notable examples include Jim Campbell's Photo of My Mother, a fascinating combination of electronic record and human memory, and Alan Rath's Info Glut II, a complex electronic structure and commentary on the symbiotic relationship between man and machine. Past exhibits at the museum have included such renowned artists as Andy Warhol and MC Escher, but the museum is also not afraid of exhibiting lesser known and fringe artists: Yoshitomo Nara of Japan's SuperFlat movement, Il Lee whose giant ballpoint pen works are nothing short of astounding, and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Mexican revolutionary photographer, to name a few.

The Todd Schorr: American Surreal Exhibit runs from June 20th, 2009 till September 16th and features the fantastical conceptualizations of artist Todd Schorr, pioneer of the lowbrow art movement. His artistic influences range from Dali and Bosch, but his art is distinctly 21st century, with its use of cartoon characters and other pop culture icons rendered in colorful, masterful strokes. Having been exhibited in Rome, New York, and Hollywood, Schorr now brings his art to San Jose. A special event will take place on July 16 with the museum curators and the artist himself. There will be a party and artist panel discussion with sounds

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